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3 Reasons Why Online Training Doesn't Work

From corporate seminars to sales, health and safety or management courses, this modern age is awash with different tactics when it comes to engaging and motivating your workforce.

What does remain constant however, is the universal truth that staff training is vitally important to a company’s bottom line. The question is – what is the most effective way to educate your team so that maximum benefit is gained from each course or seminar.

Most importantly, should training be conducted remotely or in the more traditional classroom based style which has remained very popular with businesses despite the widespread lure of cheaper, online courses.

Let’s examine now the 3 reasons why online training simply doesn’t work as well as classroom-based training and understand why successful communication requires face to face intimacy and a higher quality of interaction.

1. More Work and Less Control

Online training typically requires delegates to have read a certain amount of literature - both before and during the course. With no one to enforce this pre-requisite, companies have less control over who is (or isn’t) well prepared for their training or staying focussed throughout. Furthermore, with such an emphasis on self- discipline, lesser prepared delegates may quickly find themselves de-motivated and falling behind in their training. The fact is, some staff members – maybe even key members of a team - will simply not possess the personal skills needed to motivate themselves without face to face interaction and the company of their colleagues. Critically, these are the types of delegates who are in most need of classroom-based training.

2. Low Levels of Interaction

Some people have been lucky enough to have had a teacher during school years that has inspired them to greater things. Someone who believed enough in their students to elevate them to a higher level of learning and achievement. We should never underestimate the power of a personal approach – especially when the common goal of training is to motivate staff to be the best they can be.

The face to face interaction afforded through classroom based training is invaluable when it comes to successfully conveying course matter and engaging delegates in a way that no online course could do. Furthermore, learning is enhanced when done in the company of colleagues – peers who may well prompt you to question and resolve things in a way that you may not have contemplated if learning alone.

3. Too Many Distractions

Depending on where the online training is taking place, most delegates will lose concentration quickly – especially if working from home with the hum of a washing machine in the background. If training online in the work place, general office noise and the distraction of other tasks that need to be completed during the day, can all work together to severely impact the attention span of a delegate.

Online training is simply not engaging enough for the large majority of people and without a strong focus, the processing and retaining of new information can be very hard.

At Lane End Conference Centre, we believe that any aspect of training is done best in a focused environment with no distractions. We also cannot emphasise enough the importance of a purpose built, off-site facility where businesses can bring their staff to disconnect from their daily work routine.

With spacious conference and seminar rooms, break out spaces, dining facilities and a large number of en-suite bedrooms for training days, our purpose built training facility will offer your staff the perfect location in which to engage, interact and learn.

Our popular team building events are another great way to enhance training and boost moral as delegates strengthen their team work skills and let off some steam. These are the kind of advantages that face to face training and interaction will always have over the sterile formality of online learning.

If you would like to know more about our purpose built training facilities then simply call our team on 01494 881171 or contact us here.